+ some washi tape (maybe to help out with the decorating-in-any-way-you-like)

+ a bundle of embroidery threads

+ and the actual hoop I stitched for the cover.

Which seems like a pretty sweet deal to me. Your hoop can be something you've made recently or an older project, and it doesn't have to be super-complicated - even if you've used a hoop to frame a favourite scrap of fabric or simple piece of stitching, you can upload and enter. The competition is open until Friday, so you also have a couple of days to whip up something new, if you don't have any hoops in your back catalogue.

Despite what I said earlier about tomorrow's post being altogether non-hoopish, you could definitely adapt the idea into a quick and easy competition entry. Paper + pegs + fabric + hoop, might just = winner.

October 04, 2012

A few months ago, I was lucky enough to be asked if I'd like to contribute a couple of ideas to a new book. Mollie Makes Christmas is filled with the best collection of projects, including a beautiful paper Christmas tree, vintage fabric stockings and a knitted Santa kit, complete with woolly mince pie, beer and carrots. Sadly, none of those things were made by me, but this thing here was:

It may look like a Christmas shopping bag but, sneakily, it's an everyday-including-Christmas shopping bag. The inside is lined with a non-festive print, which means you can choose to hide the stitched Santa design away inside for the other eleven months of the year. Or not. If you want to tote him around the supermarket in midsummer . . . well, I'm not here to judge.

So, the reason I'm sharing this here - apart from the fact the book is published today - is because the splendid people at Collins & Brown have offered me an extra copy to give away to one of you. To win, all you need to do is head over to their website, Love Crafts, and sign up to receive the monthly newsletter. There's plenty of other stuff to check out on the site, too (you can learn to knit your own cat, for goodness sake), but before you get completely distracted, make sure to come back here and leave a comment so I know you've signed up. I'll then select a winner at random this time next week (entries close at midnight on Thursday 11th October).

February 23, 2012

So, it's turning out to be a Hambly kind of a week round here, which can only be a good thing. Pretty paper, fancy tape, smart rub-ons . . . nothing you wouldn't be happy to roll around in.

Just me?

Ok.

I'm especially happy with today's project though, partly because it's the first time I've done anything like this, but also because you get to play along.

Over at the Hambly blog, Allison has launched a monthly sketch challenge. Not being a scrapbooker, I haven't used sketches before, but one project down and I'm already sold on the idea. Obviously, I didn't make a layout, but part of the fun was working out how to apply a scrapbooking idea to a different kind of project.

I picked a card which was the same shape as the sketch (i.e. square), adjusted things a little to make up for the lack of photos, and am pretty happy with how it turned out.

It's also been fun to see what everyone else did with the sketch, and how different their projects all look.

If you want to have a go, use the sketch above (designed by Leah Farquharson), post a link to your project over at the blog before 1st March, and you could win a Hambly prize.

December 21, 2011

So, apparently it's all about the giveaways around here at the moment.

In case you haven't already seen it, I'm taking part in another one over at Rachel's blog, Smile & Wave. Leave a comment there and, amongst other things, you could win a $30 voucher to spend in my Etsy shop.

If you're visiting here from Smile & Wave, thanks and hello - it's good to see you.

You can find the tutorial - all super-detailed 15 pages of it - right here, should you be on the lookout for such a thing.

The remaining updates will happen throughout this week, and to celebrate I'm hosting a giveaway. Comment numbers here on the blog are nearing a thousand, and although I'm going to be cagey about exactly how many more it'll take to get there (random is more fun), the 1000th commenter will win a $25 gift certificate to spend in the shop. You can comment on any post - old or new - and if you want to enter more than once, well that's ok, too. Just please don't leave multiple, spammy comments on any single blog post (although I know you wouldn't, because you're awesome like that).

NB. If you buy something in the shop this week and then turn out to be Lucky Commenter No.1000, you can choose whether to spend your gift certificate on something else, have your earlier purchase refunded or a combination of the two, depending on the amounts in question.

May 05, 2011

This is one of those posts I love and hate at the same time. Love picking giveaway winners, hate that everyone who left a comment can't win. But maybe that's just an excuse to do it all again very soon.

So, giving further ado the standard heave-ho, we have a randomly-generated (and then fancily-illustrated) winning number:

Which makes Clare (and her funny, Blondie-inspired comment) the winner.

Clare - drop me an email, and I'll arrange to send out your phone-cosy prize in the next few days.

April 29, 2011

The last time I went to a street party, I had such bad sunburn my dad had to take me home less than an hour after it started. I spent the rest of the day sitting alone on the sofa, wearing just my underpants and a liberal coating of calamine lotion. Thanks to a fresh bottle of factor 50 and the showery forecast, it's pretty unlikely today will see a repeat performance, so when Zoe at The Making Spot asked if I wanted to join in with their virtual street party, I jumped at the chance.

I love outdoor celebrations, be they smart garden parties, picnics in the park or impromptu Saturday night barbecues. The fact they're only possible for a few months each year here in the UK makes them all the more special, and I really wanted to share a project which would work both today if you're heading off to a royal wedding party, and throughout the rest of the summer. Even if you don't have anything special planned, it would work as a quick, easy and inexpensive way to turn an outdoor lunch into something a little fancier.

To make your own windmill straws, you'll need scraps of paper, ideally with pattern and/or colour on both sides, a glue stick, needle and thread, a small button for each one, and (of course) straws.

:: Begin by cutting out a 7cm square of paper and folding it in half diagonally. Press along the fold to create a neat crease, then smooth the paper out and fold across the opposite diagonal. Crease this fold in the same way, then flatten the paper again.

:: Carefully cut along the creased lines, starting at each of the four corners, and stopping around 1cm from the centre of the square.

:: Using your needle, make a small hole at each corner and two in the centre, as shown below.

:: Next, thread the needle and push it down through one of the holes in a small button. Continue down through each of the corner holes in turn and then one of the centre holes.

:: Add a small amount of glue to one side of the straw (this is just to hold the windmill in place as you finish it off). Press the back of the folded paper shape down onto the glue, and take the thread around the back of the straw.

:: Push the needle back up through the second centre hole, back through the four corner holes and out through the second hole in the button.

:: Pull the thread ends tight and knot together in front of the button to secure. Snip away any excess to finish off.

NB. If you're using a four-hole button, stitch through just two of the holes, ideally a pair of diagonals.

The (almost slightly) patriotic red, white and blue windmill above is made with fabric, rather than paper. You can just as easily work this project with material if you're more likely to have fabric than paper scraps on hand. Either stiffen a single square with starch or iron two pieces together with a layer of fusible webbing in between, then finish as per the paper instructions above.

The finished windmills, whether paper or fabric, should be tough enough to last at least the duration of your party, and are then simple enough to snip off or throw away with disposable straws.

If you're here via The Making Spot blog hop today, then I need to be super-cryptic and hand over the letter 'L' as part of your quest, before sending you off to visit the very lovely Shimelle (she's a treasure, and I happen to know she hosts the best parties, too). If you're a regular visitor, or occasional caller with no idea what I'm talking about, then you should probably go back to the beginning. Check out Zoe's post at The Making Spot, which will link you to everyone taking part in the virtual street party (we're celebrating a wedding . . . have you heard?), and also explain how you can enter a fantastic competition.

As a little extra, you can also enter here to win a prize of your choice from my Etsy shop, Hello Clementine. Just leave a message in the comments below, letting me know what you'd like and I'll pick a winner at random. The giveaway will be open until next Tuesday, 3rd May.

Good luck, and whether it's your first visit or your hundred-and-first, thanks so much for stopping by this morning.

April 11, 2009

...Number Seven. Evidently, it is lucky, and according to my impressive counting skills, that means
the chocolate and the cupcake will be heading off to live with Laura
(dropstitch). Hurrah! Laura, if you want to send me an email (you can find
the link by clickingon ‘About’,
over there to the left) with your contact info, I’ll get it all packed up and
posted off to you on Tuesday. Thank you so much to everyone else who took the
time to enter. I’m only sorry not to have a bigger pile of prizes, and hope the
Easter bunny is extra-kind to you by way of compensation.

I’ve got a couple of
fun things to post later in the week, including a tutorial and some ideas which
might keep the smaller members of your family entertained until they go back to
school. In the meantime, you might want to check out the project I posted over
at Banana Frog a few days ago, especially if you have an aversion to coffee
rings.

December 16, 2008

Unfortunately, they've got the
better of me this past week, but I'm finally starting to see daylight between
the piles of work. I'm all about the bah, humbug at this time of year, but
despite doing very little decorating and refusing to go anywhere near the high
street, I still manage to get caught up in the panic of the looming Big Day.
Hopefully, there will be just enough spare time, either later this week or
early next, to make presents for my small nephews, one of whom told Santa last
week that he wanted 'a train and a black milkshake'. I'll let you know where
that little bit of inspiration takes me when I get there…

For now, though, someone else gets
the goodies. As there were so many comments on my giveaway post, and I'm just a
bit sad I can't make everyone a mini-book, I've compromised. One winner will
get a book ready to fill with their photos, plus a few extras, and then I'm also going to send two more people little kits with everything they need to
make up their own versions, including some blank business cards I found in my
local stationers. So, thanks to the dull-but-reliable Random Number Generator
method, here you go.

Comment number 91 (mini-book)

Comment number 173 (kit)

Comment number 9 (kit)

Congratulations, Melissa, And She's
Off and Jennifer! If you can each drop me a line with your address, I'll get
prizes in the mail by the end of the week. Thanks again to everyone who left a
comment. I'll definitely be doing more giveaways soon – this one was so much
fun. I'm also planning to spend at least one blissfully lazy day over the holidays watching festive TV shows and visiting everyone who left a link to their blog or photostream.

If you're the making kind, you
might also want to check back here tomorrow for more info on the above holiday project. Because, you know, there aren't quite enough out there already.